


Last Fourth of July

by Delta_Rose



Series: After the War [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Extremely minor references to sex, Party, Underage Drinking, drinking game, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 02:31:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7387069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delta_Rose/pseuds/Delta_Rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a one-shot prequel to After the War (If you haven't read it this probably won't make much sense)</p><p>Takes place during the Giant War (like the beginning of House of Hades) at camp Half-Blood.</p><p>How would a bunch of teenagers celebrate the 4th of July when they thought the world was going to end?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Fourth of July

**Author's Note:**

> So in After the War there is lots of references to what happened last year- And I think Leo asks like twenty times.
> 
> I thought it was be fun to tell the story from Will's point of view.
> 
> And I hope you enjoy it.

Will had always liked Fourth of July at camp, even during the Titan War it had managed to be festive and uplifting. Today was clearly shaping up to be a very different day. It started with a cabin counselor’s meeting.

It wasn’t a very cheerful meeting, Chiron simply wanted to fill them in on the progress of the seven demigods quest to stop Gaea. It was not a cheerful update in spite of Chiron’s efforts to make it seem that way. The twin giants Ephialtes and Otis had been defeated, the Athena Parthenos was saved from the remnants of the Labyrinth, Nico di Angelo had been rescued alive. 

That part was pretty exciting, Will had a bit of a crush on the son of Hades. Okay, so Lou would probably laugh if she heard Will categorize his feelings for the boy as ‘a bit of a crush’. Whatever you wanted to label Will’s feelings, hearing that Nico was alive gave him hope.

“What about Annabeth and Percy?” Mitchell, the acting head of the Athena cabin asked.

“Oh, well” Chiron looked grim “they fell into the Tartarus and their condition is currently unknown.”

“They fell into Tartarus, I think their condition is pretty clear” Drew, acting head of the Aphrodite cabin, drawled. Will glared at the girl as she examined her perfectly pink nails with disinterest. Will missed Piper McLean, for no other reason than he didn’t want to deal with Drew at every head counselor’s meeting.

“Di Angelo survived Tartarus on his own” one of the Stoll brothers commented “Annabeth and Percy could do it.”

“What’s the current state of the son of Hades?” Clarisse asked. Will wanted to give her a hug for asking the question Will had been screaming in his head since the meeting had started.

“Nico Di Angelo survived Tartarus on his own for an unknown length of time before being captured and held for days.” Chiron explained sounding less positive by the second “he is very weak, and his mental state is still largely unknown.”

“Because he was soooo mentally stable in the first place” Drew commented. From there the meeting went downhill fast. By the end Will wanted to crawl into in corner and curl up into a ball and he wasn’t the only one.

“The world is going to end” one of the Stoll brothers commented.

“In that case, we should have a party” agreed the other Stoll brother.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

“I'm not going” Will had stated when Kayla had asked about the Stoll party. Will didn’t want to go to a party, he wanted to sit in his bunk a mope.

“Will” Kayla was staring at him with a stern look “the world is ending! You can’t stay in the cabin pining after a guy half a world away, it’s not healthy.”

“I’m not pining” Will tried to argue but it was a challenge considering that was pretty much what he had planned on doing. 

“Knock, knock, knock” Lou declared from the door as she and Cecil strolled in like they owned the place.

“Lou figured you were pinning so I brought a pint!” Cecil joked as he produced a pint of ice cream from behind his back.

“I’m not pinning!” Will insisted but still took the ice cream when offered.

“Yes you are.” Austin stated simply as he stood by his own bunk examining two shirts he had laid out trying to decide which one of the two to wear.

Kayla huffed and looked at Lou Ellen “He says he’s not going to the party.”

“Yes, you are, it will be good for you” Lou declared leaving little room to argue.

“If he doesn’t want to go, let him not go” Austin interjected and received surprised looks from everyone in the room.

“Not helping” Kayla noted after a long pause.

“Hey, I plan on getting laid tonight, and you know who doesn’t get laid at a party?” Austin defended “The moping guy, because no one wants to be around him.” Austin stated pointing at Will “As we all can see Will is in full on sad movies and break-up songs mode, even though they never dated.” Austin stressed, like Will needed the reminder. He started working on his chocolate cherry ice cream “So if he comes to the party he is going to spend the entire night acting depressed and turning every conversation and event into something about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

“Nico is not a Harry Potter villain” Will corrected through a mouth full of half melted ice cream.

“And we will be the ones stuck with him.” Austin continued completely ignoring Will “Now don’t get me wrong I love you guys but in terms of getting some action if I’m stuck with you all night it’s slim pickings.” Austin pointed at Kayla “you’re my sister” Then he pointed at Cecil “and you’re straight” Finally, Austin pointed at Lou “which leaves me with you.”

“Never” Lou stated her disgust at the thought clear.

“My point exactly.” Austin declared triumphantly.

“Well, thank you for that selfish soliloquy” Kayla glared at Austin for a moment before turning back to Will with a sympathetic look “Will, staying in the cabin all night by yourself won’t make you feel better and it isn’t going to change what’s going on.”

Will knew his sister was right, but he still didn’t want to go. It didn’t feel right. Lou, ever the master of reading his mind glared at him “Also, we are not going to stop harassing you until you agree to come.” 

That did it, because Will knew Lou was serious “Fine, I’ll go” Will huffed pushed his ice cream aside.

“Dude!” Austin groaned “but you can’t talk about Di Angelo all night”

“I don’t talk about him that often!” Will retorted. Will’s two siblings and two friends exchanged looks before busting into hysterical laughter. “What? I really don’t” Will insisted.

“You seriously believe that?” Austin asked doubtfully.

“Yes, I only mention him when it is relevant!” Will explained before adding “I’ll probably go the whole night without saying his name once without even thinking about it.”

Again the group broke into a collective bought of laughter “Okay then I propose a game” Austin challenged “You have to drink every time you mention Nico Di Angelo.”

“That sounds like a lame drinking game but fine I’ll play along.” Will shrugged happy for the opportunity to prove he was right.

The lingering laughter abruptly died “Will no” Lou stated seriously “You’ll seriously die of alcohol poisoning, just no.”

Will was actually a little offended “I don’t talk about him that much” he declared “You’ll see!”

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The Stoll brothers had done an impressive job setting up a party last minute. Standing torches encircled the cabins casting the whole area in a green light. Butch and the other kids from the Iris cabin had strung lights from cabin to cabin crisscrossing over the open area and Hestia’s fire strobing in rainbow colors. Around the blazer someone had set up a s’more station and several demigods were currently toasting marshmallows. Will wondered how the goddess of Hearth and Home would feel about that. Most of the demigods were clustered around a large table near the Hermes cabin. 

“Come on let’s go get some drinks” Kayla suggested practically pulling Will along after her.

“Yeah, before Will opens his mouth and ends up in debt.” Austin laughed.

They pushed their way to the front of crowd where the Stoll brothers were passing out drinks while a kid from the Dionysus cabin poured them from a large punch bowl. Kayla and Austin both accepted cups from the Stoll brothers and proceeded to try to hand them to Will “What’s in it?” Will asked not accepting either of the drinks being offered “And I don’t need two”

“Alcohol” Austin replied.

“And Will we can’t come up here every two minutes ‘cause you need a refill” Kayla informed sympathetically “So just take both”

Begrudgingly Will took both beverages and pushed his way back out of the crowd with Kayla and Austin not far behind. As the demigods thinned they found Lou Ellen and Cecil with drinks already in their hands.

“Look at you all out and about” Lou declared giving Will a half hug “I’m proud of you.”

“I wasn’t really given a choice” Will reminded.

“Hey good idea getting two” Cecil commented pointing at the cups in Will’s hands “That way you don’t have to go back up there every two minutes.”

“You’re not actually going to hold him to that stupid drinking game, are you?” Lou Ellen directed the question toward Austin.

“Gods yes I am” Austin declared. “Maybe it will stop him from going on and on about how the night sky is like Nico’s eyes or something equally as poetic and gagging.”

Lou Ellen shook her head disapprovingly and Will couldn’t help but roll his eyes “It’s fine” he declared “I probably won’t have to drink even once because of it.”

Austin, Kayla, and Cecil all laughed at his assertion while Lou Ellen patted him on the arm sympathetically, as if to say he was a fool. Will chose not to comment, he would show them until then they could think whatever they wanted. 

Looking around the cabins Will noticed some had hung flags by the doors. It took him a minute to realize why and what they meant. The flags hung outside of each cabin that had a Greek demigod on the quest against Gaea; Athena, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Poseidon- someone had even hung flags outside of cabin one even though Jason was technically Roman. Instinctively, Will looked toward cabin 13 and wasn’t really all that surprised to see it lacked a flag.

“No one hung a flag for Nico” Will commented absently to no one in particular.

“Drink” Austin replied and waited. 

It took an embarrassingly long time for Will to figure out what he meant. When he did he said nothing only taking a large gulp of his drink, which surprisingly didn’t taste that bad.

“Oh Will sweetie” Lou Ellen gave him a concerned look “take smaller sips, I’m speaking on behalf of your liver here.”

“He doesn’t have any siblings at camp” Cecil offered a weak explanation.

“Neither does Percy or Jason” Will reminded. Nico should have a flag, Will thought, he was just as much a hero as any of the others.

“Maybe they only hung flags for the seven of the prophecy” Kayla offered.

“Then shouldn’t there be flags for the other two? You know, the Roman ones.” Will noted.

“They probably just hung flags for the demigods that are a part of this camp.” Austin stated.

“Nico is a part of this camp” Will stated giving Austin an annoyed look which he easily returned.

“Drink” His brother reminded. Will rolled his eyes but obeyed.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Fifteen minutes and four drinks later Will had learned he mentioned a certain son of Hades far more than he ever realized. He, Lou Ellen, and Cecil sat in the grass watching Kayla compete with some kid from the Nike cabin by shooting apples off some seriously gullible demigods heads while blindfolded.

“Lou I don’t think I can drink anymore” Will stared at his drink with disgust.

“Well then stop talking, and avoid the “N” name at all cost.” Lou Ellen offered.

“Will” Cecil nudged Will “Would it bother you if I took a shot at Kayla?”

Will laughed as did Lou Ellen “Sure, go for it” Will managed “You do realize she’s into girls right? Lou Ellen has a better shot then you do.”

“You think?” Lou Ellen asked curiously.

Cecil ignored her “I know she says she’s only into girls but I don’t know I get this vibe”

“Get a vibe from who?” Austin stumbled and sat down next to Cecil “Lou Ellen? I get that vibe too, it’s not what you think” Austin declared before taking a gulp of his drink “It’s disgust with an undernote of hatred.”

“And don’t you EVER forget it” Lou Ellen told Austin before adding “but he was talking about Kayla.”

“What?!?” Austin laughed “I have a better chance with Lou Ellen!” He declared. He seemed to think for a second before adding “And Lou Ellen definitely has a better chance with Kayla.”

“That’s what I said” Will offered.

“You guys really think so?” Lou Ellen asked again sounding more curious then before.

“Where have you been?” Will asked Austin.

“Oh I tried my hand with Drew.” Austin answered.

This time Will, Lou, and Cecil laughed “How’d that go?” Lou Ellen asked.

“She slapped me” Austin stated “But I’m not taking it personal she has been slapping everyone.”

“Hey, did you guys see that!” Kayla declared running over excited “I just totally kicked ass! Take that Jordon!”

“I saw” Cecil stated hoping up excitedly like a hyperactive puppy “It was awesome.”

Kayla looked at Cecil confused for a second before she turned to the others “What the hell is he doing?”

“He’s making his move” Lou Ellen informed.

“Oh” Kayla nodded with understanding before turning to Cecil. She slapped him across face fast before declaring “Well, stop that.”

“Don’t feel bad Cecil” Will offered “At least you got a chance to make a move, even if you got rejected. It’s more than I ever got.” 

“And now Will has to drink.” Austin pointed out. Will glared in Austin’s direction and gulped down the last of his drink.

“I’m going to get another” Will declared standing up. He stumbled a little but caught himself.

“You’re going to need it” Austin called after him.

“I told you not to agree to that stupid game” Lou Ellen stated.

Will ignored them as he walked away back toward the cabins. It was a longer walk then Will thought it should but that was probably because he stumbled several times. Lou Ellen was one-hundred percent correct, he should not have agreed to this stupid game. There were some weird sites as he made his way back to the cabins like a circle of shirtless demigods jeering something going on in the center, and a large group of people running around in plaid and blue face paint.

“Hey Will you’re back” one of the Stoll brothers greeted passing Will a drinks.

“Thanks” Will mumbled.

“See you soon” Which ever Stoll brother it was called after him.

Will turned to flip him off as he walked away but then he walked right into something and practically fell over. The only thing that stopped him was a pair of strong arms catching him. Will still dropped his drink as he turned to see who had caught him.

The guy was a few inches shorter the Will with dark curly hair cut short, hazel eyes, and a tan sandy complexion. Based on the firmness Will felt when he walked into him he was seriously muscled. Attractive, tone, and completely unfamiliar “Um sorry” Will managed.

The guys smiled “No apologies, my fault” he offered in a thick accent Will wasn’t familiar with “Son of Apollo? Yes?”

“Ah yeah” Will replied, the guy had a really nice smile “Um I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I am son of Hebe” He informed “I am Ja”

“I’m sorry did you say Jar?” Will asked the accent making it difficult to understand.

The guy laughed, which was also really nice “No, no Ja” he corrected although it still sounded a lot like jar to Will.

“That a cool name” Will offered “I’m Will”

“Yes, I know” Ja replied “You dropped your drink”

“Probably means I don’t need another one” Will laughed even though it was very much the truth.

He held up his cup “We share” he stated more then asked before grabbing Will’s hand “Walk with me.”

Confused, all Will managed was a “Um okay”

Will felt like he was going to have a panic attack as he walked his hand interlocked with the son of Hebe’s. Will was pretty sure the guy was flirting with him and that was supposed to be a good thing. He was an attractive guy, the world was about to end Will should just relax and enjoy this. Instead he felt panicked and….guilty?

Ja pulled Will between two cabins where even the torches and Iris orbs didn’t seem to cast away the shadows. Will somehow ended up leaning up against the cold stone walls of one of the cabins with Ja standing in front of him. There was very little distance between them but Will didn’t think about it much, it was probably a foreign thing- He remembered hearing once that people in the U.S. had larger personal space bubbles then most other countries.

“You have such lovely eyes” Ja practically whispered before leaning in. Will had just enough time to realize ‘oh gods he’s going to kiss me’ before their lips meant. 

Objectively speaking it was a nice kiss, maybe even more then nice but Will’s mind wondered from the moment. What would Nico kiss like? he wondered. He doubted the son of Hades would be so bold, although he had seen Nico in combat and bold was a very accurate word to describe him on the battlefield would that hold true for something like a kiss as well? Was Will really thinking about Nico Di Angelo while kissing this attractive guy?

Will pulled away and side-stepped dislodging himself from the narrow space between the Ja and the walk “Sorry I ah sorry” Will fumbled with his words before turning on his heels and walking as quickly as he could from that he could ignoring anyone calling out his name.

He ended up finding Lou Ellen by practically running into her. She was standing surrounded by six or seven teacup pigs while making s’mores with Cecil, Kayla, and Austin, who was shirtless for some reason. It was probably a good thing he ran into her because otherwise he would have run straight into Hestia’s fire.

“Hey there you are” Lou declared “We were starting to worry.”

“What’s with the pigs?” Will asked looking down and one oinked at him indigently.

“They were annoying me as people” Lou answered like that explained everything “They’re much more enjoyable this way.”

“Okay, you’re terrifying” Will commented looking at Lou Ellen “What else did I miss”

“Drew slapped Cecil” Kayla offered.

“Clarisse and Chris got caught having sex in the canoe lake by a group of would be skinny dippers” Cecil informed.

“Technically, they were having sex in a canoe on the lake.” Lou Ellen added.

“Technically, whatever” Austin grumbled “It was horrifying and a complete mood killer! I was so close to seeing Mitchell from the Aphrodite cabin naked.” 

“Isn’t he straight?” Will asked.

“Yeah, but I get this vibe from him” Austin informed like he had given it a lot of thought “I think he could be converted.”

“Right” Will nodded “I forgot you’re terrifying too.”

Lou Ellen handed him a stick with a marshmallow on the end of it “So what have you been up to?

“Um met a guy kinda” Will mumbled embarrassed.

“What?!?” Lou Ellen exclaimed loudly dropping her marshmallow into Hestia’s fire.

“Brother!” Austin exclaimed “I knew you had it in you!”

“What happened?” Cecil asked.

“Who was it?” Kayla added.

They all were watching him so excitedly, that quickly changed once he actually told them the story. Of course he left out a few details like what he was thinking about, who he was thinking about while this attractive demigod was kissing him.

“Was it Ja from the Hebe cabin?” Kayla asked.

“Yeah” Will replied “Why?”

Both Kayla and Lou Ellen snickered before Lou composed herself enough to ask “Did he tell you that you have pretty eyes?”

“How did you know that?” Will asked.

Both girls laughed before Kayla replied “It’s his line, he tries it on ever girl.”

Lou Ellen patted his arm sympathetically “If it makes you feel better you’re the first guy I have heard of him going after.”

“It really doesn’t” Will replied and focused on toasting his marshmallow while Lou and Kayla continued to snicker. 

For a little while everyone was quiet forcing on toasting marshmallow and making s’mores. Without really thinking about it Will voiced the question that had been running around in his head for a while now “What do you think Nico would kiss like?”

“Oh for the love of Olympus” Austin declared as Lou Ellen placed her drink in Will’s hand. Austin huffed and then replied actually answering Will’s question “Super aggressive, and he’d probably bite you!”

“Never thought about it and don’t plan to now” Cecil replied happily smushing a marshmallow between two graham crackers.

Kayla hummed as if she was actually giving it some thought “Passionate, like suck the air from your lungs and leave you weak in the knees.” Kayla shrugged when everyone looked at her a bit taken back “He’s Italian, isn’t that the stereotype?”

“Tentative at first” Lou Ellen offered “He seems like the type that has to ease his way into things rather than jumping in head first.”

“Now for that conversation I think Will should have to drink that whole cup.” Austin informed. Lou Ellen and Kayla forever Will’s saviors went to argue that point but Will didn’t see the point. He finished the remainder of Lou Ellen’s drink in two large gulps.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Twenty minutes later Will and Cecil sat in the grass outside the arts and crafts cabin watching the Stoll brothers desperately trying to put out the fire they probably started. They had lost Austin when Ja had showed up faking concern for ‘the son of Apollo’. Turns out he really wasn’t picky about which son of Apollo kept him company- Will happily shoved Austin in his path and made for the hills. The guy seemed more Austin’s speed then Will’s anyways. 

“You were right; Lou did have a better shot then me” Cecil noted pointing to Lou Ellen and Kayla who were a couple yards away making out.

“Uh-ha” Will managed just barely, he was expending most of his energy on trying to make everything stop spinning and was failing miserably.

Cecil said something that Will didn’t really hear, he was to focused on the best idea that had just come to him. He grabbed Cecil by the arm and shook him “Cecil, I have the best idea” he declared releasing Cecil’s arm and struggling to get to his feet “I’m going to get Nico a flag” Will hadn’t expected the spinning to get worse once he was on his feet but it did, it increased tenfold. Will sat down hard “after I make everything stop spinning” he buried his head in his hands.

“Dude, are you going to be sick?” Cecil asked concerned.

“Don’t be ridiculous” Will grumbled “I’m a child of Apollo, a healer. I don’t get sick.”

“Oh Will I’m pretty sure anyone who drinks their weight in tequila is going to get sick” Cecil patted him on the back. “I’m going to get Lou and Kayla, and we’ll get you back to your cabin.”

Before Will knew it he was being hosted off the ground and stumbling in the direction of his cabin with the help of Lou Ellen and Cecil. As Will barely managed to stumble with most of his weight being supported by his friends Will repeatedly declared “You guys are the best, like the best friends ever.”

At about his third rendition Lou responded with “You have no idea, now shut up and focus on walking.”

Lou really was a great friend, once Cecil rather unceremoniously dropped Will on the floor of the Apollo cabin bathroom she helped him prop himself up by a toilet. Then she brought him a blanket and water. She even sat with him for a little while rubbing his back while telling him how stupid he was and how she had told him not to play Austin’s stupid game before leaving Will to experience the most undignified hour of Will’s life.

When it was finally over Will felt like he should have an eight pack for all the exercise his abs just gotten and he was literally sweating tequila but at least the world stopped spinning. He guzzled the water Lou had left him before getting up and brushing his teeth all the while telling himself ‘Never again! Never, ever again!”

Will grabbed the blanket off the floor and stumbled back into the cabin proper with the desperate need to crawl into his bunk and sleep for the next week. Of course, it wasn’t that simple as he found Lou Ellen and Cecil desperately groping at each other.

“Seriously?” Will groaned picking Lou’s shirt off the floor.

The couple detached “Will!” Cecil exclaimed. “We stayed are to make sure you didn’t die”

“Feeling better?” Lou asked pushing hair out of her face.

“Fantastic” Will replied unenthusiastically as he handed Lou her shirt “And your concern is touching really. Now go have sex in someone else’s bunk ‘cause I need mine.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am so glad I actually finished this in time to post on the actual 4th - it was close.
> 
> Alright- Back to After the Wars, Extras, and my next project which is currently untitled.
> 
> Much love! Feel free to leave comments and kudos they always make me smile


End file.
